


Choosing Trust

by bumblebeug (Madsmadsmads)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Redemption, chloe gets the ladybug miraculous, marinette as guardian, tumblr ask prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:33:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21888220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madsmadsmads/pseuds/bumblebeug
Summary: Tumblr ML prompt: Marinette has to leave town for a week to go visit the miraculous temple in China and as a way to try to push her back to the right track deputizes Chloé into Ladybug while she’s gone
Relationships: Chloé Bourgeois & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 4
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr prompt from anonymous asked for me to write this- I hope you all enjoy!

Despite what her mother thought or perhaps in spite of it, Chloe Bourgeois knew quality. It was why, as much as she hates to admit it, she wakes up painstakingly early to go to the Dupain-Cheng bakery for breakfast every morning.

In times past, she would make her Father’s personnel fetch her breakfast from the Bakery. But, with the elections mere months away, her Daddy claimed that he needed all the hands he could get. So now, she was left to get it herself.

‘If there were better,’ she thought but never finished as she donned her “disguise”. She had a reputation to maintain; being seen entering or leaving the Dupain-Cheng Bakery, her self-declared enemy’s home – would be like admitting defeat. But really, all she did was leave her hair loose and slip a pair of over-sized sunglasses over her face but it was enough to make her feel unrecognizable.

She also wouldn’t admit to anyone, but right now, she liked feeling anonymous. Liked that her outward appearance was just as unrecognizable as her inner jumble of thoughts. That whole ordeal with Hawkmoth a few months back was… well, it didn’t do to think about it. Especially now, when the bakery was just starting to fill with the warmth associated with freshly baked bread. Chloe lingered in the doorway, as was her usual custom, waiting for at least three other early risers to make their purchase.

She strode forward as the last coin dropped onto the counter, considering that maybe she should try a new pastry instead of getting another spinach-gouda croissant, but dismissed the desire as a passing fancy – the spinach-gouda croissant was salty, warm, and familiar. And in the face of everything having changed for the worse – familiar was something she desperately craved.

“Good-morning Chloe.”

Chloe stopped a foot short of the counter and did a double take, in Sabine’s place stood Marinette.

“I, I want a spinach-gouda croissant.” Despite her shock she wouldn’t say please, she was talking to her arch-rival after all.

“They’re not ready yet,” Marinette said gravely with a straight face.

Chloe looked at the full display of spinach-gouda croissants through the counter glass and raised her eyebrows, “…Right. Look Dupain-Cheng, just give me my breakfast and we can pretend this never happened.”

‘Seriously,’ Chloe thought pinching the bridge of her nose, ‘what’s with this girl?’

“How about you come to the back and I make you some tea while we wait for the croissants to bake?” Marinette offered as if her request were nothing out of the ordinary. “Besides, there’s something I want to ask you.”

“Okaay,” Chloe had no idea why she was agreeing to this. She told herself it was because she would receive a free cup of tea and an extra fresh breakfast, but really, the truth was simpler – it was the first time since the… Hawkmoth situation that someone had shown her positive attention. Even if the kindness was false, since Marinette clearly outlined that she was doing this to get something out of her, it was nice to be on the receiving end of it all the same.

She sipped delicately at the jasmine tea and waited for Marinette to speak first. Marinette clutched her teacup like it was a life-line and took a long gulp before beginning with “Chloe, I need to travel to Lhasa for a week for…personal reasons.”

“Tibet,” Marinette clarified when Chloe sent her a blank look.

“So you want me to what… take notes for you while you’re gone?”

Marinette waved a hand, “No, no – thank you, but I have Alya covering me for that.”

“Then why are you telling me this?” Chloe tossed her hair over her shoulder, “I swear, if this is a mean prank to make me late for school, then I –”

“I want you to be Ladybug while I’m gone!” Marinette blurted out.

Static overtook Chloe’s brain. Marinette was Ladybug? But then. But then that meant that Marinette knew how, how _awful_ she was both in and out of the mask why would she want? Why would she want _her_ to be Ladybug? Chloe’s near-empty teacup clattered onto the table.

“That’s a sick joke,” Chloe declared as she stood up, “Where’s the camera? Are your little friends watching?”

Tears fogged Chloe’s eyes – breakfast be damned. This was just cruel.

“No, Chloe, wait!” Marinette grabbed Chloe’s sleeve, “Please! It’s true.”

Chloe’s eyes snapped to Marinette, “If it were true, then why me? Why not any of your other friends?”

Marinette’s grip tightened briefly on her sleeve, “Because none of them would be as good!”

“…What?”

“Please, sit back down. I can explain, I promise.”

Marinette released her sleeve and sat carefully down, as if Chloe was a wild animal that would spook at any fast movements. Chloe wiped the gathering tears with the back of her hand, grimacing inwardly at the smear of blue and black that was left behind. She knew she should have used waterproof mascara that morning.

“Alright, talk.” Chloe demanded imperiously as she picked up her teacup.

Marinette inhaled noisily, “Ok, well. I’ve been watching you since Hawkmoth –”

“I don’t want to talk about that,” Chloe interrupted.

“Alright,” Marinette said soothingly, “So since that…day you didn’t leave for New York… I noticed how, without having any distractions…”

Chloe snorted at Marinette’s delicate wording, of course she would be too polite to say ‘since you lost all your friends’ but otherwise remained quiet.

“…and without you bullying me, how creative you got with your designs. You’re crafty in ways that no one suspects. Crafty enough to rival me,” Marinette paused to take a sip of her own tea, 

“The Ladybug is creativity and kindness itself. It needs someone like me.”

“Like you,” Marinette corrected, “to reach its full potential. And as guardian, I deem you worthy.”

When no more words came from Marinette, Chloe tried to poke holes into Marinette’s reasoning, “But how can you say that? How can you be sure I won’t abuse the power and keep the miraculous for myself? Or that I won’t turn to Hawkmoth again?”

Marinette’s eyes pinned her down, “Would you?”

Chloe cast her eyes away from Marinette’s, “It happened last time. And the time before that.”

“True,” Marinette said softly and slid a lacquered box towards her, “But I have a feeling that you won’t this time. I’m choosing to trust you to do the right thing. It’s up to you to choose to honor that trust.”

Chloe’s hands trembled as her fingers closed around the box, “Thank you.”

On her way out, Chloe paused at the counter.

“Oh Chloe, dear,” Mrs. Dupain-Cheng said cheerfully, “A new batch of spinach-gouda croissants just came out – how many would you like.”

“Actually,” Chloe said slowly, “I think I would like some canelés, please.”

Maybe it was time to try something new, after all.


	2. Family Knowledge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, I have been having a weird writer's block but I really enjoyed making Choosing Trust so instead of working on some of my other fics I thought it’d be fun to continue down this prompt. Hopefully you guys enjoy!

Marinette sighed as she watched her best friend and confidante and Chloe walk away.

‘It couldn’t be helped,’ Marinette thought. Paris needed a Ladybug and Marinette was needed elsewhere.

Days ago, Marinette had found, quite by accident, her summons to the Guardian’s temple clutched in her mother’s hands when she arrived late from a Kitty Section practice session.

“Hey mom,” Marinette said lightly, not noticing how her mother clutched a scrap of paper in her hands, “You didn’t have to wait you know, I was only five minutes –”

“Marinette.” Her mother said, tone tense.

She stiffened. Her mother only used that tone for two instances: when she was deeply in trouble or when something was deeply troubling. Immediately Marinette cast her mind back trying to think of anything that she could have done to earn that tone. When it came up blank, Marinette began to panic. Wang Cheng sprung to the forefront of her mind – he’d had an accident recently. If her mother was using that tone then it must be worse than Marinette had thought.

“Is Uncle Cheng alright?” Marinette asked in a tiny voice. “Were his hands worse off than the doctors had initially thought?”

Momentarily confused, her mother shook her head. “What? No, no – your uncle is fine. It was just a stress fracture.”

Sabine then held up the letter with the Temple Guardian’s insignia facing Marinette, “Do you know what this is? What it means?”

Marinette forcibly kept her breathing easy and feigned ignorance. “No,” she lied easily.

“What is It?”

Marinette waited for her mother to draw her eyebrows down – as she did whenever she caught Marinette telling a fib. But the moment never came. Instead, her mother drew a ragged breath.

“I think you should sit down.”

Marinette complied and sat very still, waiting for her mother to start talking first. Her mother stared at the ceiling for several long minutes before looking down at the space in between them before meeting her daughter’s concerned gaze.

“Do you remember the news about the miraculous reappearance of that temple in the Tibetan mountains?” Her mother began lowly.

Mutely, Marinette nodded. The reappearance of the temple had plastered the news for a better part of the month before coverage of Queen Wasp had taken over. A person would have had to have lived under a rock to have missed the implications of a temple suddenly reappearing like that. Especially since it suddenly supported the Ladyblog’s “crazy” theory of a secret order directing Miraculous appearances.

“Well…” her mother took another deep inhale through her nose, “The news was right – it’s no ordinary temple. In its heyday, it housed great magic and those that were chosen to walk those sacred halls became Guardians.”

“Mom?” Marinette interjected. Her voice wavered, “How do you know–?”

Her mother raised a single eyebrow, effectively silencing her daughter’s interruption and continued, “Though most Guardians lived within the walls of the temple, they were not bound to it. Guardians were free, and were encouraged even, to travel. To walk the lands helping those that needed help the most. So, when the Guardian’s Temple suddenly disappeared, precious few of the order survived. And those that survived continued on teaching the core lessons, but not the magic, throughout the generations.”

Her mother paused and looked at Marinette, “Do you understand what I’m saying so far?”

“I…think so,” Marinette lied. In truth, her thoughts were whirling recklessly through her mind. If her mother knew all this then that meant… That meant… Her mind shut down – refusing to process her thoughts.

Meanwhile, her mother nodded, ignorant of her daughter’s inner distress. “Good, good.” She said half-absentmindedly, “Where was I? Oh yes. So. What does this letter mean? And how can I know all of this? Well. When great, great Grandmother Ya married her husband, this secret was revealed to her – which she passed down to her children who finally passed it down to me when the time was right.”

Sabine wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, “I had hoped that there was a better way to introduce you to all of this or, better yet, never have had to talk to you about this ever. But, we are where we are.”

Sabine finally relinquished the letter into Marinette’s waiting hands, “Sweetie. I’m so sorry but you’ve been summoned.”

The words, once uttered, echoed strangely in Marinette’s ears, conveying an importance that should have been impossible to convey verbally. But logically, Marinette knew that she should have been expecting something like this – after all, the appearance of the Guardian’s Temple and Master Fu’s passing down of the guardianship happened too close together for fate to not interfere.

If she thought about it, it made sense that she would be summoned.

But she hadn’t.

Hadn’t truly thought about the implications of becoming a Guardian. How could she have? It all happened while she was under duress. Paris had been at stake – in the moment there was no time to think of anything else. And after? Too much came too fast so the meaning of guardianship was shunted to the back of her mind.

But now?

The finality of her mother’s words rang deeply in her psyche.

Summons.

Guardianship and all that entailed.

Marinette’s mother took notice of her daughter’s eyes widening and how each breath became more shallow than the last. She grasped her hands, “Dear. Breathe with me.”

Once Marinette was capable of pulling air into her lungs steadily her mother ran her thumb over her daughter’s knuckles, “It can’t be ignored.”

“I’m sorry,” her mother gathered Marinette in her arms and apologized over and over again softly. “It can’t be ignored.”

“You must have been recognized as being exceptional,” Sabine murmured in a soothing tone, “I’m so proud of you.”

“I…,” Anything Marinette had been planning on saying died in her throat. Her identity was safe, but another lie had sprouted to shield her mother from the truth of who she really was. And what could she say anyways? ‘No mom, the only reason I was summoned was because I was Ladybug before I was named Guardian by Master Fu?’

She couldn’t. She wasn’t exceptional. But there was no way to explain all of this to her mother without revealing everything so instead she just swallowed down anything that went contrary to her mother’s imagination and said,

“I’m going to make you proud – I promise.”

They clutched each other tightly.

When they pulled apart, Marinette studied the letter. It was straightforward thanks to the grueling hours she had spent studying Han characters under her mother’s tutelage. The Guardians wanted her to travel to Lhasa (in any way she deemed necessary) – when she arrived, there would be an emissary waiting to guide her into their sacred hall to begin “the guardian trials”.

Beyond that, the letter only stipulated that she bring her “most precious items of passage.”

“What about Dad?” Marinette questioned.

“Don’t mind your father,” her mother dismissed without a thought. “He understands as well as I do how important something like this is.”

Marinette’s eyebrows creased slightly at her mother’s words but she didn’t comment, not sure she wanted to learn everything she didn’t know about her parent’s marriage. _Some cans of worms_ , she thought, _are best left unopened._

Her eyes dropped back down to the creased paper and committed each step to memory before tearing it into fine shreds.

“Mom,” She said slowly. She brought her eyes up to her mother’s, wide blue eyes meeting dark brown, “I love you and Dad– you know that right?”

Marinette wasn’t sure why she was suddenly desperate to hear her mother’s affirmation. It wasn’t like a visit to the temple would take too long – after all, she had already gotten some training under her belt thanks to Master Fu. But something about the atmosphere made Marinette feel like it would be the last time she would be able to see her mother for a while.

An absurd thought.

But one that nonetheless pulled the question out of her mouth before she even realized what she asked. Her mother didn’t even hesitate.

“I love you now and I’ll love you for another thousand years,” her mother replied firmly.

Marinette’s eyes slid shut momentarily as she locked the familiar phrase into her memory.

“Before I go,” Marinette began, “I need to plan a few things out…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys had as much fun reading that as I had writing that. Originally, I had planned on writing Chloe out further but I felt that switching between Marinette and Chloe would be more interesting.


	3. Simple Actions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a while, eh?

Throughout the day, Chloe kept slipping her hand into her purse to stroke the miraculous box, still not quite believing that Marinette of all people was _The_ Ladybug.

 _Marinette_.

Her self-declared nemesis.

The one who somehow found her worthy to take up the mantle of Ladybug while she was off doing whatever it was she apparently needed to do in Tibet.

Marinette, whose absence seemed a declaration of proof that Chloe’s hatred of Marinette was never quite as mutual as she’d always imagined. 

Her nail _clinked_ on the hinge. Chloe was careful in her placement – she didn’t want to accidentally open the box in the middle of class. Revealing herself in such a cheap way would have been ridiculously embarrassing. ‘Just tacky,’ she thought as she pictured a dazzling light flashing out of her purse.

The box was warm to the touch. Not just body-heated warm but warm in a way that made her think her hand was being held gently. It was different than when she had held Pollen’s miracle box. That box had thrummed in her palm like it was peppering a thousand kisses on her – wanting to be opened and grateful to whoever happened to do it. 

Idly, Chloe wondered what the miracle box of the ladybug would feel like if she pressed it to her chest. Would it feel like a hug? Suddenly, Chloe wished she could hold the box to her chest to find out. 

“Chlo-bo’s awfully quiet over there,” Alix’s said quietly somewhere behind her left shoulder. And just like that, all longing thoughts disappeared; Chloe faced stiffly forward, trying to look as though she couldn’t hear the loudly whispered conversation while attentively listening to what was being said about her. 

“Maybe she’s planning something,” Alya chimed in, voice laced with suspicion. Chloe snatched her hand out of her purse, hoping that it looked like she had been secretly browsing her phone while waiting for the final bell to ring.

“Psh, planning what?” Alix snickered, “How to be the worst supervillain of all time?”

“How could she beat the last time?” Alya rejoined merrily.

The rest of the class tittered quietly before quieting down. _Adrien must have glared at them_ , Chloe thought. 

She and Adrien were no longer friends – he could barely look her in the eyes, let alone talk to her after she became Miracle Queen – but, for whatever reason, he kept his friend’s from being too mean. She knew, of course, that his protectiveness was probably less about feeling a vestigial flicker of friendship towards her and more about preventing her from becoming re-akumatized: after all, absolutely no one (least of all Chloe) wanted Anti-bug or Queen Wasp or Miracle Queen or some new monstrosity to show up. But it didn’t stop her from hoping that at least a little of the former was at play as well. 

Chloe lifted her gaze from her lap and smiled weakly in thanks at Adrien. He frowned back at her until she looked away. She twisted her fingers together tightly and focused on keeping her breathing even. Friends or not, she wished that Adrien understood how much she appreciated him coming to her defense. 

The bell rang and she couldn’t get home soon enough.

~~~~~~~

The penthouse was empty, but that was nothing new – between being the Mayor of Paris and running a hotel, Chloe would often find their living space empty. It had been foolish to think that would change just because her Mother now lived in Paris. Audrey Bourgeois, after all, had her own life and was busy running a fashion empire from afar. 

_Her parents weren’t avoiding her_ , Chloe had reasoned, _they were just busy_. Just because they happened to be busier in the months following her akumatization was just coincidence. Pure coincidence, plain and simple. 

So, even though her parents wouldn’t come home until after dinner and just before she went to bed, she thought a little caution never hurt anyone - especially when it came to leading a double life. 

“Jean-Jacque?” Chloe called out.

Quick footsteps from the kitchen came to the hallway, “Yes, mademoiselle?”

“I don’t wish to be disturbed this evening and I won’t be down for dinner.” Chloe tossed her ponytail over her shoulder. “Have dinner brought to my room. Dessert too, please.” 

“Yes, of course, mademoiselle,” Jean-Jacque replied with a strange look in his eyes.

It wasn’t until Chloe had closed the door to her room that she realized that she had said ‘please’ – she almost never said please to anyone besides her mother. Shrugging, she chalked it up to nerves as she pulled the miracle box out of her purse and set it on her bedside table.

Chloe eyed the box as if she had expected it to change into something else. When minutes had passed and nothing happened, she reached out a tentative hand and cradled it on her lap. It was still reassuringly warm. She briefly entertained the notion of placing it against her heart again before dismissing it. She placed a hand on the lid: Paris needed a hero - not a sentimental sap; yet several more minutes passed with no further movement on Chloe’s part.

It should have been simple, Chloe thought, open the box, become Paris’ temporary saviour, give it back when Marinette returned. 

“Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.” Chloe muttered at herself over her hesitance to open the box. She took a deep breath, “No box gets the best of Chloe Bourgeois.”

The glow coming from the newly opened box was dazzling and Chloe had to blink several times to clear the after image from her vision. In front of her, a red being introduced herself as ‘Tikki, kwami of creation’.

Chloe took in the floating being smiling before her. Her brow wrinkled in concentration, “Wait a moment… haven’t I seen you before?”

**Author's Note:**

> Currently, I am still taking asks on my Tumblr page, so if there's something you are burning to read and think I can do it let me know. Happy Holidays!


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